1. Thou art a fool if thou desire wife and children and friends to live forever, for that is desiring things to be in thy power which are not in thy power, and things pertaining to others to be thine own. So also thou art a fool to desire that thy servant should never do anything amiss, for that is desiring evil not to be evil, but something else. But if thou desire never to fail in any pursuit, this thou canst do. This, therefore, practice to attain—namely, the attainable.
1. You are a fool if you want your wife, children, and friends to live forever. You are asking to control things beyond your control and to own what belongs to others. You are also a fool if you want your servant never to do anything wrong. You are asking for evil to be something other than evil. But if you want never to fail in any pursuit, you can achieve this. So practice achieving what is within your power.
2. The lord of each of us is he that hath power over the things that we desire or dislike, to give or to take them away. Whosoever, then, will be free, let him neither desire nor shun any of the things that are in others’ power; otherwise he must needs be enslaved.
2. Our master is whoever has power over the things we desire or dislike, to give or take them away. Anyone who wants to be free must neither desire nor avoid anything under someone else’s control. Otherwise, they must be enslaved.
3. Wherefore Demetrius said to Nero, You threaten me with death, but Nature threatens you. If I am taken up with my poor body, or my property, I have given myself over to slavery, for I immediately show of my own self with what I may be captured. As when a snake draws in his head, I say, Strike at that part of him which he guards. And know thou, that at the part thou desirest to guard, there thy master will fall upon thee. Remembering this, whom wilt thou still flatter or fear?
3. That is why Demetrius said to Nero, You threaten me with death, but Nature threatens you. If I am preoccupied with my poor body or my property, I have made myself a slave. I immediately reveal how I can be captured. When a snake draws in its head, I say, Strike at the part it protects. Know that your master will attack you at the very point you want to protect. Remembering this, whom will you still flatter or fear?
I adopt Upton’s suggested correction for the unexplainable phrase ἐν βοὸς κοιλίᾳ.
4. Think that thou shouldst conduct thyself in life as at a feast. Is some dish brought to thee? Then put forth thyself in seemly fashion. Doth it pass thee by? Then hold it not back. Hath it not yet come? Then do not reach out for it at a distance, but wait till it is at thine hand. And thus doing with regard to children and wife and governments and wealth, thou wilt be a worthy guest at the table of the Gods. And if thou even pass over things that are offered to thee, and refuse to take of them, then thou wilt not only share the banquet, but also the dominion of the Gods. For so doing Diogenes and Heracleitus, and the like, both were, and were reported to be, rightly divine.
4. Think of life as a feast, and behave accordingly. Is a dish brought to you? Then reach for it politely. Does it pass you by? Then do not hold it back. Has it not yet arrived? Then do not reach for it from a distance. Wait until it is within reach. Treat children, your wife, positions of power, and wealth this way. Then you will be a worthy guest at the table of the gods. If you even pass over what is offered and refuse to take it, you will not only share their banquet. You will also share the rule of the gods. By acting this way, Diogenes, Heraclitus, and others like them were truly divine, and were rightly recognized as such.